<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>thor puking after a rollercoaster isn't an invitation for the bad guys to show up, dammit by booplesnoot_png</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23001847">thor puking after a rollercoaster isn't an invitation for the bad guys to show up, dammit</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/booplesnoot_png/pseuds/booplesnoot_png'>booplesnoot_png</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>date a nerd, freak a geek [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cute, Domestic Avengers, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, Fluff, Geek!OFC, Multi, Peter Parker is Trying His Best, Their Love Is So, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Warning: Loki (Marvel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:08:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23001847</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/booplesnoot_png/pseuds/booplesnoot_png</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Random OTP generator prompts pulled into a series of interlocking ficlets of poly!Avengers/OFC (can be read as a self-insert).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Banner/Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton/Original Female Character(s), Everyone/Everyone, James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Natasha Romanov (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Thor (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s), Wanda Maximoff/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>date a nerd, freak a geek [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653058</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>thor puking after a rollercoaster isn't an invitation for the bad guys to show up, dammit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is ... Pre-smut? IDK.</p><p>If y'all have prompts, you can request them. :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thursday night was by far the favorite day of the week for Ally. Not only was it the promise of the upcoming weekend and two blissfully desk-free days, it was decided amongst the Avengers to be the team bonding evening, or as Ally called it - “Educate the plebs on pop-culture” night.</p><p>Though the attending persons were anything but plebs. The team took a great focus on watching good old movies and if Ally and Clint weren’t bickering they even pointed out the commonly used references and memes to Steve, Bucky and Thor.</p><p>Loki had no problems using Google and quickly mastered the art of online trolling in an alarming variety of ways, starting from using ancient Vines as responses to meme-fying his teammates and posting the pictures on his Twitter.</p><p>The PR department stealthily called him “The Nightmare”. The man had absolutely no concept of privacy when he found something amusing and he had a wicked, dark sense of humor. His picture of Steve digging through the communal, <em>very large</em> fridge - ass and legs dangling halfways out of it - with the caption “aw shit here we go again” had nearly three <em>hundred</em> thousand retweets.</p><p>Tony had been cajoled by Pepper to revoke Loki’s phone access after numerous complaints about having to work overtime from the PR lackeys, but the trickster went and bought himself an <em>iPhone</em> and Tony just couldn’t have that. In a very public display of outrage, the engineer had shoved a StarkPhone into Loki’s arms, screeching something about foul play and promptly chucked the iPhone in his lab’s prototype disposal unit, wholeheartedly enjoying the crunching sound of breaking competitor’s tech.</p><p>For Ally it wasn’t a big surprise that Loki and Tony got along like a house in fire despite bickering almost incessantly. Her and Clint became besties fairly quickly and they still regularly insulted each other; it became a game of creativity and wit. Sometimes two people just rubbed each other in that great, friendly way, their vibes being at the same frequency. She totally got Tony and Loki having an ego standoff and cuddling on the couch ten minutes later.</p><p>The rare moments where everyone was civil and <em>normal</em> were the movie nights. It was an unspoken rule that those days were reserved for relaxation, cuddle piles and nice words only. Not that anybody complained.</p><p>Tony had a ordered a custom made couch that pulled out into a large futon that could easily accommodate ten people. On nights like these, everyone was all up in each other’s space, basking in the warmth and closeness.</p><p>Wearing a pair of loose tennis shorts and a t-shirt borrowed from Tony, Ally was happily sandwiched between two supersoldiers as Ocean’s 11 played out on the large living room TV. Ally had seen it multiple times and only superficially paid attention to the screen: she was more focused on simply enjoying the company of her friends and familiar people.</p><p>A quiet snore took her out of the half-asleep state, followed by a wiggle from the man on her left. Bucky had taken a spot next to her with Wanda on his other side, saying that the proximity of the Scarlet Witch usually kept his nightmares at bay.</p><p>Ally couldn’t say that she understood what exactly it was that Wanda did with her powers but as long as it kept Bucky happy, it was all that mattered. She only knew snippets of his past with Hydra and even that was more than enough to make Ally chew her nails down in worry for the brunette man.</p><p>As more and more of his own personality returned he grew increasingly tactile. A touch on the shoulder, a kiss on the cheek, light-minded hugs and hands around her waist; Bucky seemed to naturally gravitate towards somebody’s body heat, the softness of their skin.</p><p>As he was snoring away, Ally heard his prostetic arm recalibrate itself and minutely twitch before setting itself on top of her soft, fluffy fleece blanket she’d brought from home.</p><p>Some might have said fleece things to be tasteless but for Ally, the warm softness and silly patterns provided a sense of comfort. She had at least one fleece thing in any and all places she regularly visited.</p><p>The mass of his arm all but bunched the most of her blanket under it causing Ally to grumble in displeasure, blearily looking around for a solution. Her brain was not the best thinker when she was a puddle of goo between two supersoldiers.</p><p>“Here, I got it,” with a smile, Steve gently lifted Bucky’s arm like it weighed nothing, helping Ally to get her treasure back. That was Steve’s essence, he was like an eager puppy, always there when you need him. Ally enjoyed Steve’s wholeness and tried to not take too much advantage it, mindfully keeping watch over Steve’s feelings. He had a tendency to keep everything in until he boiled over.</p><p>The woman settled back in, cocooning herself, pressing her back against Steve’s side, facing Bucky who was sprawled on his back like the laziest starfish, his leg touching Steve’s at the bottom of the couch.</p><p>Some time had passed, scenes had changed on the screen. Ally abandoned the movie in favor of dozing and resting her eyes, mindlessly tracing idle patterns on Bucky’s chest - and didn’t notice him lolling closer and closer until her face met the metal bicep of his prostetic.</p><p>Once again, the woman choose to lift her head and look around at her surroundings - not that she could see anything really, without her glasses that were laying somewhere on the coffee table at the far end of the room.</p><p>The team didn’t mind if she dozed off during movie nights, usually Loki or Wanda levitating the glasses away to a place safe from squishing by the superhero bulk.</p><p>Bucky’s arm whirred particularly loudly and suddenly Ally found herself carefully but firmly tucked against a hard chest, the smell of machine oil and “bio” washing powder filling her nostrils as her face promptly was positioned into the crook of Bucky’s neck. Despite being a very light sleeper, it appearedd that Bucky had hugged her out of instinct - if judging only from Steve’s quiet chuckling.</p><p>“Wha..?” Ally’s sleep-muddled brain couldn’t formulate a coherent sentence so she settled on a general question. Wanda would help with translation if needed anyways.</p><p>“Bucky can’t stand the cold so he usually cuddles up to me when he’s asleep. I run hot since the serum. Tony recently did an upgrade on the arm that simulated muscle memory so that’s just a force of habit.” Steve offered in the way of explanation. Yeah, it totally made sense, Bucky no doubt was terrified of the cold and potentially had flashbacks.</p><p>Ally threw her arm around his middle sighing contentedly. She, too, was a domestic animal and preferred warmth and Bucky was an absolute human furnace. The woman resisted to urge to purr, settling for a good nap instead.</p><hr/><p>Voices and music was still playing in the background when Ally woke up again. She squinted, trying to determine what was on the screen but quickly abandoned the idea when she realized her whole front and side was drenched in sweat.</p><p>Talk about discomfort! Feeling selfconscious, the woman used her free hand to smooth away a stray tuft of hair that was sticking to her clammy forehead, exhaling noisily as she did so. Bucky was still asleep, burning to the fires of hell wherever his body was touching her, the skintight tee doing nothing to prevent the sear of his super metabolism.</p><p>Wanda was half-lidded across her too, cheeks red as the witch obviously struggled to stay awake. Once she caught sight of Ally, the girl smiled, reddish-brown eyes sparkling in no doubt laughter at Ally’s dishiveled appearance.</p><p>Uncomfortable, Ally wiggled free her back and bottom from where it was sticking to Steve. The blonde supersoldier was an incinerator, too, but his awareness wasn’t impaired: Steve kept a couple of inches of space in between himself and Ally, letting the cool, conditioned air flow in the small space between them.</p><p>With some struggling, Ally disentangled her body from Bucky, sitting up to survey the room.</p><p>Tony was drooling, snoring away on Bruce, tangled in a pile of limbs with the scientist and Loki, two men awake and alert, watching the TV with rapt attention. A sigh of relief left Ally as she found herself fulfilled at seeing the engineer sleep. The bad habits and regular Science! benders were more likely to kill him than the supervillains he battled.</p><p>Thor was sprawled in the middle, Natasha covering his body like a human blanket. She appeared to be sleeping, too, yet Ally was wary on making any assumptions about the redhead spy. She was so sneaky, it was possible she was quietly sharpening her knives somewhere in the vicinity of Thor’s armpit.</p><p>Clint was nowhere to be seen, not surprising Ally in any case: with the amount of junk he ate, all the sugary drinks and greasy snacks needed to exit periodically. The team had stopped pausing the movies a while ago in hopes of instilling better habits in the resident archer to no avail: he simply bothered the closest person to tell him what he had missed during his ten minute bathroom break. Sigh.</p><p>Sitting up brought Ally no relief from the heat of the supersoldiers. Fanning her face, she studied the rest of the team: at least half of them were quite red in the face. Natasha was breathing heavily-er, heavi<em>er</em>.</p><p>“Is it really hot in here or is it just me?..” Ally asked aloud, eyebrows rising at the raspy sound of her own voice. It felt like she had slept a whole century.</p><p>“It’s you.” Wanda deadass just went there, much to Ally’s confusion. The team traded smirks, confusing the woman even more. Was there something she wasn’t getting?..</p><p>“What?” She asked, eyebrows raised. The self-consciousness had evolved into nervous embarrassment for Ally, her thoughts kept going to things like sleep-breath and armpit stains. She couldn’t help but feel inadequate surrounded by such perfect human beings.</p><p>“What?..” The Witch made an attempt at faking innocence, giving Ally the biggest puppy eyes. The others in the room kept on snickering, much to Ally’s disgruntled confusion.</p><p>Carefully climbing out of the cuddle pile, Ally made a beeline for the nearest bathroom, nearly bumping into Clint who was coming back from what looked like a change of clothes and a shower, the easygoing grin that archer gave her did very little to diminish Ally’s frustrated thoughts.</p><hr/><p>After a good long scrub and shameless hogging of Tony’s clothes, Ally ventured back into the common room to be surprised. Only Bruce remained having been busy by picking up the trash and putting away leftovers. Not the one to leave a mess after herself, Ally helped the man sort and pack the various messes his teammates left behind themselves.</p><p>One question finally was answered: Nat was munching on sunflower seeds. <em>Such a Russian thing to do,</em> Ally thought with a fond giggle.</p><p>“I take it you slept well?” Bruce asked Ally after they had taken care of the mess and went into the kitchen - Ally was refrigerating leftover Chinese and Bruce was making himself a tea.</p><p>“Yeah, I did.” Ally blushed, remembering being buried under the human octopus James Barnes.</p><p>“You looked pretty toasty.” The scientist teased her gently, interpreting the blush for what it was.</p><p>“Oh, don’t say it, doc.” Ally groaned, throwing open the door to the kitchen’s adjacent terrace. “I think I know now, how a dumpling feels in the pot.”</p><p>The night had covered New York City in a dark blue blanket littered with dim lights. The air pollution prevented any real starlight from coming through as well as the incessantly cloudy weather but up there, on the top floors of Tony’s skyscraper, the city view was truly spectacular.</p><p>Ally went out on quiet feet, savouring the crisp night air, absorbing the lights and sounds of a city that never slept. Even at late hours it felt no less alive than at rush hour, the noise turned down just a little bit, becoming the steady hum that is a city’s resting heartbeat. It took Ally’s breath away every time regardless of the time she’d already spent here.</p><p>A shuffling pair of feet, as quiet and slow as her own and the smell of herbal tea. Bruce had joined Ally on the balcony, both hands wrapped around the steaming mug. They both stood in silence, staring at the city with unseeing eyes, lost in their own heads.</p><p>“It never gets old.” Ally finally voiced her thoughts, reluctant to break the silence. To her it seemed like the man was waiting for something, from her or from himself - she didn’t know.</p><p>Bruce nodded, chuckling. “Don’t tell Tony, but one of the main reasons why I moved in, in the first place, was this…” He made a broad swipe with his hand, seemingly at a lack of words.</p><p>Ally nodded in agreement. “I can definitely see the appeal. It gets so calm at night, up here.” Wisely keeping silent about the situation around and under the windows of her own apartment, the woman confessed after a bit of quiet. “I miss the stars. Back home, I didn’t need to use a telescope to look.”</p><p>Bruce lifted the mug to his lips, blowing on the tea softly. “What was home like… To you?”</p><p>The soft inquiry was met with a smile.</p><p>“Medium sized town, a lot of trucks and truck stops. Bears and deer wandering around the highways. Cool summers.” Ally answered, thoughtful. “Me and my brother used to climb to the attic to get on the roof and make wishes on every falling star that we saw. I slipped and broke my arm once, when I was fifteen, but that didn’t stop me from doing it again. And again, until I left for uni. It’s like I always knew there was something more out there than just shiny dots in the sky.” The woman reminisced with a shy laugh.</p><p>Bruce laughed too, the quiet, tender little noise that had Ally’s stomach fluttering full of ghostly butterfly wings. It was a rare, beautiful sight to see Banner lavish with tranquility.</p><p>Man and woman stood shoulder to shoulder, with his arm timidly wrapped around her middle, enveloped in a melancholic haze brought on by the muted spell of the languishing city. Evening’s team affair left Ally pleasantly discharged, empty of worries and daily rally, her mind at peace from being surrounded so tightly, so snugly by <em>her</em> people.</p><p>As soon as she noticed the man had finished his cuppa, Ally withdrew, overdue a restful good night’s sleep. “G’night, Brucie.” Drowsiness was beginning to set back in. She gave the scientist a chaste kiss on the cheek, grinning at the soft pink blush immediately dusting his cheeks.</p><p>“Good night, Ally.” He replied with sincerity, following the woman inside, setting his dirty mug in the sink. She was gone by the time he made it to the elevator.</p><hr/><p>The next morning was hectic and disorganized as the Avengers got ready for one of the mandatory charity events that Phil Coulson insisted they attend. Something something public image. Out of them all, only people who had the understanding for it were Tony and Thor, both men used to being public faces and had enough practice charming and putting on a performance for the crowd.</p><p>Visiting sick kids in hospitals was last year’s trend, or so Tony had said. Ally wasn’t fooled, however, it was simply much too painful to see people dying, small people who only had started their journeys in this world. Thor and Loki tended to be withdrawn after the hospital visits as if the sheer existence of their friends and teammates pained them; human mortality acutely on display, more than ever.</p><p>It was a terrifying thought: both brothers will outlive all of the humans, their children and their children’s grandchildren and probably not look a day older than they were now.</p><p>Chugging her second cup of coffee, Ally tried to dispel distressing thoughts by checking her phone, fiddling with the zippers on her fanny pack and generally being nervous. It was her first time being invited along with the group on an official charity outing. The woman was no stranger to lavish parties and even balls those days, but interacting with such a sensitive crowd while a camera was to be pointed in her face, Ally felt like a fish out of water.</p><p>Loading up into several Chevy Suburbans took a short moment, the drive wasn’t long either. The team was set to visit a school for disabled kids upstate, a measly forty minute drive away. It did no good for the team to be packed tightly while being so wound up, especially with Tony nervously rambling in the back seat and Natasha behind the wheel with one of her murder faces on.</p><p>Ally only partially heard the principal’s welcoming speech not that it was exceptional in any way: hints for additional funding, tired teachers pushing students wheelchairs, guiding some by the arm to their seats.</p><p>Kids were seated in groups - Ally noticed a flock of teenagers excitedly speaking in sign language next to the entrance door, next to them was a group of girls reading something in Braille, evident by the plain white pages of the book.</p><p>Natasha who stood next to Ally wore a carefully constructed mask of polite, distant kindness. Most of the team did - with the exception of Thor, who looked around curiously as if he was a child himself. Ally knew Natasha too well for the redhead’s tension to go unnoticeable, alas, the reason for it stayed a mystery. Natasha was too good and didn’t let her sight settle on one thing too long, too often.</p><p>The school was of the boarding type and about half it’s population came out of state as one of the teachers told them, many parents were eager to get some relief from the special needs of their kids.</p><p>Ally could understand that for all that she lacked the actual experience: the school in her hometown wasn’t properly equipped to deal with special needs kids and a hearing aid was the biggest disability they could accommodate without putting themselves at risk. Here, the kids got the proper care and attention they required.</p><p>The team was led to a large living area and immediately got swarmed with happy, eager children ages eight and up. Ally managed to blink once before seeing Steve and Thor being climbed like trees and laughing, Tony and Bruce talking with a bunch of teens that looked like they, too, had Science! benders of their own and finally Clint: he had gathered the biggest crowd around himself and was showing off the hearing aids Stark had made specifically for him.</p><p>Natasha stood next to Ally, smiling but stiff. The spy obviously looked uncomfortable to anybody who’d known her long enough.</p><p>“What’s up, Nat?” Ally quietly asked, smiling down at a little girl who looked about nine. She wore a acid green tutu and a Black Widow tee, so obviously a fan of Natasha, but was too shy to approach the two women, staring at them from across the room instead.</p><p>“It’s easy to forget how unfair is the life when you are given a target and a list of their wrongdoings. You take care of it and that’s it. Here, the life is unfair and you cannot do anything about it.” Natasha replied, giving an equally shy smile to the little girl. That was about as much Ally could get Nat to talk about her feelings when the spy got upset; she preferred to make a tactical retreat every single time she got emotional.</p><p>Not that Ally had anything to say to that. Widow was right. Life wasn’t always fair and kind.</p><p>Ally was startled out of her thoughts by a tiny hand yanking on the bottom of her tunic. Looking down, she saw a very small boy looking up at her with large eyes. He looked way, way too small for his age and his facial features were uneven, betraying his special needs status.</p><p>Ally crouched to his level, addressing him with cheerful kindness. “And what have we got here?”</p><p>“My name is Aaron.” The boy replied with a slow stutter, looking very thoughtful. “You are very pretty. Are you a superhero, too?”</p><p>Ally laughed, taking the boy’s hand in her own and leading him to one of the smaller chairs, noticing the way his eyes lit up. “No, I’m their friend. I work with computers. How old are you, Aaron?”</p><p>“I’m ten,” he replied, sneakily looking at his fingers. “I think computers are really cool.” He added, after a moment of contemplation.</p><p>“I think computers are cool, too. They make it much easier for us to do things.” Ally cheerfully said.</p><p>“Yeah.” The boy nodded, finally smiling and got up. “I’ll go see Captain America now.” Qnd promptly ran off in that way that only kids could pull off. Ally didn’t hold back the little chuckle.</p><p>Turning in her chair, she was greeted with a sight of Natasha sitting cross-legged on the floor, talking to a few girls who had stars in their eyes, swallowing each word that the spy said.</p><p>The woman was handling it as good as she could, Ally thought, scanning the room again. Loki was showing magic tricks - a total hit with the kids - and Thor was cheering him on, covered head to toe in laughing, screaming children. Bruce and Tony appeared to still be lost in science - a couple of teachers had joined in on what looked like an impromptu meeting of the school’s Science club. Clint was chasing someone around the room like the goofball he was and Steve was carefully watching the kids who attempted to lift his shield - a whole team of rugrats was huffing and puffing as they propped the heavy thing with their arms, hands and backs. Bucky was proudly showing off his prostetic arm that he spent an hour polishing last night - to a group of kids who each had prostetics of their own.</p><p>The cameramen were posted inconspicuously at the far corner of the room, having abandoned their tech in favor of the curious kids who dared to approach them with questions of their own.</p><p>Ally was approached multiple times throughout the event, having to tell kids that yes, she was basically a hero sidekick, and yes, the backup is very important and yes, you can be a superhero even if you are deaf - like Clint Barton.</p><p>As the day rolled to an end, the younger kids became tired and cranky. Those who were lucky enough to be around Thor and Steve fell asleep right on top of the blonde men; Loki’s magic took care of the ones in his care with gentleness Ally hadn’t seen previously.</p><p>Thor deposited his share of kids on the nearest surfaces and made his way to Ally with a tired but no less beaming smile, silently placing a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“Allison, right? I read about you in Cosmopolitan last year.” A girl that looked to be a high school senior approached the woman. “It was wicked. I loved your shoes.”</p><p>Ally prepared to reply but backtracked, noticing the girl’s wheelchair. “One and a half grand for them. I kept thinking to myself how much I could’ve upgraded my set up with that amount of cash.” The woman laughed nervously.</p><p>The girl waved Ally away with a chuckle, not uncomfortable in the least. “I’m aware they’re not meant for me. I won’t run, or play football, or even ride a rollercoaster. Not my fault I was born like that, but then again, there’s nobody to blame for my defective genes. I just really hate it how awkward people are about it.”</p><p>Surprised at the maturity of the young woman, Ally shyly tilted her lips in response. “Can’t help it, I’m a couch potato that didn’t get properly socialized in society.” She made a play at an attempted joke; it won, the girl gleefully cackling.</p><p>Self-deprecating humor was a habit Steve and Bucky tried to break Ally free from and if she was honest, not all their attempts were in vain. She started to respect herself more, notice her positive attributes. It was hard to resist the Rogers &amp; Barnes brand of chivalry.</p><p>Thor cleared his throat behind Ally’s back. “What is this… Rollercoaster?” Coupled with the look of a genuinely confused retriever puppy, Thor’s shift of focus elicited only more and more cackling from the two females, attracting stares from the whole room.</p><hr/><p>“This,” Clint Barton gestured towards a large, wooden structure that coiled around a large, metal statue, like a snake on drugs. “Is a rollercoaster.”</p><p>Thor was too busy devouring his fifth corn dog, a tuft of cotton candy clenched tightly in his other hand, to truly acknowledge the attraction. After his question had blown up the room into laughter, Tony decided it was a crime the Asgardians hadn’t been shown a classic American tradition: theme parks!</p><p>Saturday noon met them with a cloudy but warm glow and Thor promised he’d keep the rain away if needed; the Avengers plus Ally made their way to Coney Island, happily chatting with Steve and Bucky who were excited to see how the park had changed since the forties.</p><p>They should’ve known. That’s what Ally thought, they should’ve known that Thor would go and stop at every food stand to eat anything and everything. Popcorn, cotton candy, corn dogs, cheese fries, ice cream cones - no food too small or too large to bypass the wraith of Mighty Thor.</p><p>“Does anybody want to go on it?” Steve asks in his best interpretation of “mom” voice. They had just started having fun and he already looked five kinds of done with this, ready to kick back on a lazyboy and knit for the remainder of the day.</p><p>“I’ll go.” Ally was excited. It had been years since she visited any kind of amusement park.</p><p>Next to her, Thor is making noises of agreement around a mouthful of meat and various condiments. Ally is is decidedly not surprised at the lack of cotton candy in Thor’s arms; neither she can resist fondly rolling her eyes at Loki’s disgusted face expression.</p><p>When the safety bar snaps over her and Thor’s laps, she knows she made a big, <em>big</em> mistake. Thor’s presence suddenly puts her ill at ease: if he gets scared, he’d electrocute them all to death. And with his superstrength, he’ll tear the locked bar before she could die a quick and painless death via 100,000 volts instead of becoming a splatter of meat and bone somewhere twenty stories lower, on the pavement where Bruce and Loki stood watching their teammates making fools of themselves.</p><p>Thor was a ball of excited nerves when Ally told him, firmly: “If you get scared, hold on to me. For the love of all that’s holy, do not break the safety railing.” And he just <em>grinned</em>.</p><p>She knew she’s fucked when Thor tightly shut his eyes and <em>screamed</em> as they hollered down at a sharp angle, going some 50mph towards the ground, wind howling around them.</p><p>Screams of joy around her did nothing against the terrified, girly screeching that came from the blonde man shaking next to her. Ally herself felt energized, full of adrenaline, wholeheartedly enjoying the experience; she gave Thor proper credit - while he was clenching her hand so tightly it would probably bruise, no safety constructions were breaking and they sat locked in place.</p><p>Prolonging Bucky’s and Tony’s laughing fit, Thor stopped his noises only about ten seconds after they came to a screeching halt. Ally patted his back, forcing her own snickers down - this man, this <em>god</em> could stand his ground face to face with various cosmic entities, coming out little worse for the wear, but a rollercoaster? Something that was made to safely get the adrenaline rush?</p><p>“Oh, Norns.” Was the only warning Loki got before Thor’s stomach contents ended up all over his shoes with a comically loud “blergh”.</p><p>Bucky and Tony looked a moment from having a clogged artery from all the laughter they had.</p><p>“You absolute oaf,” Loki’s deadpan voice betrayed the disappointed-but-not-surprised outcome.</p><p>“I didn’t know Asgardians could vomit.” Bruce remarked, looking like he was about to commence some Science! right there in the middle of the crowd, on the freshly puked-on sidewalk.</p><p>Ally couldn’t get enough of this situation. It was hilarious, everyone’s reactions were so genuine, she’d rarely seen the Avengers act so relaxed, so <em>normal</em>.</p><hr/><p>“Ally?” Came Loki’s voice from behind her.</p><p>The puke incident taken care of, the group moved along, taking care to stride away and around any fast food joints. Thor wasn’t known for his self-control when it came to all things Midgardian.</p><p>“What’s up, Lokes?”</p><p>“Here.”</p><p>Ally found herself to be the unexpected owner of a large, white and green stuffed bear that Loki had procured from God knew where. The raven-haired man was looking proud of himself, a tiny smirk on his lips which was just Loki for “I did this for you, now love me”. He also appeared to be covered in golden confetti, most of the shiny papers had found itselves at home in his hair and under the collar of his black sweatshirt.</p><p>Ally wondered what made the usually eloquent god fumble with his speech. “Thank you, Loki.” Stopping to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, she couldn’t resist asking: “Where did you get this? And what happened to you?” Inquiring about his dishiveled appearance. The man was usually scrupulous about his attire.</p><p>Even his relaxed attire consistent of designer pants and a sweatshirt that was the softest thing Ally had ever touched. It all looked painted on, tight clothes absolutely mouthwatering on the slender man- and there it was, a confetti piece stuck to his crotch. <em>Whelp.</em></p><p>“Banner told me there was an attraction that required my set of skills, that could procure me this… Bear. I was also told Midgardian ladies enjoyed such simplistic gifts.” He replied conversationally with a dash of snide. Loki didn’t think a stuffed bear was an appropriate gift, that’s for sure.</p><p>Ally made up her mind before her arms caught up to her intent. Hugging the toy as cutely as she could, the woman made an exaggerated sigh. “Aw, he’s so cute though. And soft. I’ll totally keep him in my bed now.”</p><p>And didn’t that provoke a reaction out of Loki! His steps slowed, face wearing an expression torn somewhere between hungry and exasperated. “I could list several things that will have a better place in your bedchambers. Why you Midgardians care for such trivial things is beyond me.”</p><p>The woman couldn’t decipher the meaning behind <em>that</em> one so she left the topic alone as they came to a stop at a different, less vomit inducing, attraction. She opted to stay on the ground that time, point one was for stuffed bears weren’t allowed on the ride and point two: Bruce was actually going. Ally didn’t want anybody to get upset so she stayed behind with Loki, letting Banner unwind, too.</p><p>Once all the Avengers were on the ride, Ally set to de-confetti Loki - much to his shock, he didn’t realize he was covered in the stuff.</p><p>He bent over to shake out his long hair and Ally took a moment to admire the man. He was really beautiful, aesthetically pleasing - call it as you may; perfectly clear, milky white skin, shiny raven hair, eyes that were actually the color of emeralds and proportionate features… If Ally could draw or paint, she’d spend all her money to convince him model for her.</p><p>“Yes?” His voice, velvety, reminded the woman she was <em>ogling</em> him.</p><p>“Sorry. Got caught away in your beautiful.” She admitted shyly.</p><p>He grinned in return, in that not-quite-Loki way that was reserved for warm afternoons and jobs well done and near-death experiences and Tony’s antics and now, apparently, Ally. Slightly bashful and a little mad.</p><hr/><p>They heard the screaming - not the joyful kind, terrified and taken aback cries of anguish - and it took them all and all less than a minute to Assemble. If the giant metallic bugs weren’t towering over the amusement park, Ally would have had to find a discreet place to have a mini-meltdown over Steve handling his shield whilst wearing civilian clothes. It should have been illegal.</p><p>Instead, she scrambled for cover as he instructed her in-between barking orders to rest of the team. Ally ran (and wow was she out of shape) to the nearest place that looked safe, refusing to part with the stuffed bear that Loki gave her, clutching the toy for dear life. It was the only thing she had for comfort, being woefully unprepared to find herself in the midst of a battlezone.</p><p>Somewhere, she heard a distant robotic voice talking the usual supervillain bullshit, as if the assumed unruliness of The Avengers was anything but a farce, an excuse for superpowered individuals get their five minutes of fame until they became forgotten news somewhere in the deepest confines of SHIELD.</p><p>Fragile egos. This was about the fragile egos of people who had superpowers but weren’t good enough to be the good guys. Or perhaps they thought themselves above others, seeing regular people as extras, as collateral damage.</p><p>Ally hid in a ticket booth under one of the sturdier, metal rollercoasters. In hindsight, being under a hundred-some tons of metal wasn’t the smartest choice out there - the metal creatures, resident villain’s aides, were about the size of two semi trucks and packed enough power to fight off the Hulk.</p><p>It made sense that the dreaded cracking and booming above her followed the sounds of battle not long after Ally hid in the small wooden building. The woman punctuated each loud snap with a scream. Fear made her brain sluggish and uncooperative, one moment the thoughts raced in her head, running twenty, thirty probable scenarios - the brain being eerily silent the next.</p><p>It was pointless any chance. A large piece of the rollercoaster above her blocked the exit out of the booth. Ally could have shattered the window to climb out but with the pieces flying, she had no clue if the next flying bit won’t wind up on her, squishing her, leaving her body to be a puddle on the pavement.</p><p>“Ally? Is that you?” A boyish voice asked her, startling a scream out of her sore throat.</p><p>“Pet… Spider-Man?” Hope blossomed in her chest. Peter would get her out. She won’t be buried under the metal. She won’t be another statistic, a name on a collective monument dedicated to victims of terrorism.</p><p>“Yes. Oh my God!” The teen superhero panicked briefly. “We have to get you out of here. The construction is failing.” He rambled, quickly kicking out the glass from the window and beckoning her to hurry up.</p><p>Ditching the bear (with regret), Ally did as she was told, slithering out the edge of the pane; the small sharp pieces of glass undoubtedly ended up in the skin of her soft belly but picking pieces of glass out of it was still a much appealing fate than being squished. The adrenaline in her blood did the most, blocking out the pain, making it into a small discomfort. The woman felt warm, she didn’t need to look down to know her hoodie was stained with blood.</p><p>She managed to get out, standing on her own shaky feet - and that was about it. A screech of metal followed the worst crunching, crushing noise Ally had ever heard. Her eyes closed involuntarily as the fallen tubes filled the air with dust and debris. Despite the fear and danger, she stayed frozen in place, too afraid to open her eyes and see her own mangled body, Peter’s mangled body-</p><p>“Ally, you have to run.” Uncharacteristically serious, Peter spoke through gritted teeth.</p><p>Ally forced her eyes wide open, astonished to see them alive - and the struggle Spider-Man was in. The sticky spider webs held away the biggest, heaviest piece of rollercoaster tracks that hung no more than fifteen feet above them both. The thin, sticky white substance was no match for several tons of steel; for each two strings Peter added, some three or four snapped.</p><p>Without thinking, Ally turned tail and ran. She caught on rubble once or twice, skimming her knees and bruising her palms. The burn in her lungs was nothing compared to the scratchy feeling of concrete dust in her eyes and throat and before her body knew it, Ally found herself behind an ice cream kiosk, having fallen on her knees, eyes tightly shut.</p><p>Seeing a red and blue blur was the last thing she remembered before passing out from fear, stress and pain.</p><hr/><p>Waking up with a splitting headache from being gently shaken by an owner of a beautiful male voice certainly did have a place to be in Ally’s life - maybe in her fantasies, let’s be honest. A hard, cold and uneven surface wasn’t appropriate for <em>that</em> kind of setting, making Ally begrudgingly pry open her eyes, finally facing the reality.</p><p>She was laying halfway under a candy stand, on a piece of broken pavement and Tony was leaning over her, helmet retracted and worry in his deep brown eyes.</p><p>“Your eyes are beautiful…” Ally trailed off, realizing somewhere in the back of her mind that she’s probably concussed. The engineer was the last person on the planet to whom she’d admit her attraction - out of all of them, he had the biggest variety of beautiful, slender and exceptional women. There was not a chance he’d look twice at a frumpy IT-guy like her.</p><p>“There you are, it’s going to be fine, Ally.” He gently coaxed her to sit, checking her over for injuries and frowning at the blood staining her light grey hoodie. “What hurts?”</p><p>“Everything hurts, Tony. I don’t think it’s severe.” She replied curtly, wincing.</p><p>Tony started looking her over again, almost frantic in his desire to make sure she’s okay. If anything, her face looked the worst from sleeping on a jagged, broken piece of concrete - the whole expanse of her cheek was various shades of blue, the other side of her face littered with small cuts and scrapes that had stopped bleeding recently, crusting over.</p><p>Ally noticed his stare. “Is there something on my face?” Feeling self-conscious, she attempted to remove all debris from it, only to be stopped by Tony’s suited metal hand.</p><p>“There is.” He replied. In a blink of an eye, his warm, chapped lips were on hers and a for a brief moment, the noises of battle’s aftermath around them ceased. It was only Ally, Tony and their combined breath in this world as his lips gently moved against her own. “Yeah, it was me.” He replied, smugly, dopily, evidently still drunk on adrenaline. His eyes sparkled, the crows feet around them prominent - he smiled a lot, Ally thought.</p><p>A hot blush overtook her. She couldn’t help it. The small, chaste but desperate kiss was everything and nothing she had imagined. All that was left to do was to hide her face in the metal crook of his arm when he carried her to the quinjet, battered and bruised and <em>happy</em>.</p><hr/><p>Ally had been sitting down in the medical section of the quinjet as they waited for Natasha to bring back Bruce from wherever he transformed back into himself.</p><p>Being happy a moment ago turned into comfortably numb as the various aches had made themselves known again; Ally didn’t catch onto her feelings fast enough as fat, round tears started leaking from her eyes, the face remained impassive.</p><p>“Ally? Oh my God…” She heard Steve’s voice like she was underwater: distorted and distant. Large, hot hands encompassed hers in her lap. The blonde man had bend on his knees to reach face to face level with her sitting on a cot.</p><p>“I was scared.” She hiccuped before dissolving in a fit of ugly, desperate crying. Caring about her looks was out of picture for Ally: the stress and extertion on her body needed a way out and for some reason, it couldn’t have waited until she was in the privacy of her room in the tower.</p><p>The humiliation only made her cry harder, unable to articulate her thoughts into speech.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Ally.” Steve whispered from someplace in her hair, delightfully close, smelling like his cologne, his sweat and the concrete dust everything was covered in.</p><p>“Don’t… Apologize… Not… Your… Fault….” The woman in front of him choked out, fighting the rising hysteria in vain.</p><p>Steve chuckled faintly at only something he knew, cupping her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. “Protecting you is my job.” She seemed to calm down the tiniest bit but the fat tears kept falling.</p><p>The plush of his mouth became soft as he held her face with shaking hands of his own, her small palms around his forearms doing nothing to steady his nerves. She closed her eyes when she felt him inch closer, a shaky exhale leaving her lips upon the feel of those plump, pink lips touching the skin of her cheeks.</p><p>He continued kissing away every tear that fell, the damn romantic, making Ally blush scarlet and cry a little harder despite the calm that his kisses brought her. He went on to kiss them more, meeting her lips instead; Ally sneakily turned her face to give him a real kiss, having had enough of the teasing soldier.</p><p>Another brief moment of shared breath and Steve pulled back, his red skin tone matching hers. His grin matched Tony’s: happy, stupid, a little drunk.</p><hr/><p>Ally hated the medbay. Necessary as it was, she still found herself feeling uncomfortable and exposed, sitting on a hospital bed with only a thin papergown to preserve her modesty from anyone that passed by the large glass wall separating her ‘room’ from the corridor to the left of her.</p><p>In front, another glass wall was placed in-between a room with a similar set-up: a bed, a heart rate monitor and a small table on wheels, loaded with assorted bandages, syringes and antiseptic bottles.</p><p>Ally wasn’t ready to be separated from the team just yet but Bucky had taken a sharp stab in the knee and had to be taken for surgery, so it made sense Steve went with him for emotional support and towed Tony along to disable Barnes’ prostetic arm.</p><p>The woman frowned, alone in her discomfort, until a doctor came along to take our the tiny glass shards resting in her abdomen. Nothing of importance was hurt but they brought a great discomfort to the woman, mostly by itching.</p><p>As she was laying down, blanket covering her lady bits, she saw Clint being herded into the opposite room by an annoyed looking Natasha. The spy threw Clint on a matching cot, barking orders and terrifying the nurse, then stalked out and leaving both Clint and the nurse to sheepishly look at each other.</p><p>Ally gave a small wave to the man once he noticed her, wincing at the first tugs and burning from the forceps that were making their way around the skin of her stomach, pulling out tiny, shiny pieces of glass that clunked when dropped into a sterile dish.</p><p>Barton waved back, signing animatedly: Ally knew a <em>little</em> sign language but not nearly good enough to uphold a conversation. “Something something, angry, something I fell, something my leg, something Natasha, I am annoyed.” Was what she understood, giggling at the cartoonish way the archer confessed his dislike for his situation.</p><p>“Stay still, please. I’m going to attempt to pull out bigger pieces now.” And ow, Ally had no clue something so big was all up in there. The woman didn’t dare to look, perfectly satisfied with the warm feeling around the place where the doctor was rummaging. She was bleeding, so it was big - good enough for a situation assessment.</p><p>Clint had the most annoyed face she’d ever seen as another doctor was disinfecting the gash on his thigh - which was pretty serious-looking and Ally decided she would thank Natasha for bringing the dumb bird to a doctor.</p><p>Having noticed Ally’s frowning, Clint stuck our his tongue like the adult man he was. Ally only furthermore exaggerated her grumpy face, drawing her eyebrows together and silently mouthing “we’re gonna have words”.</p><p>The pain sharpened again, more warmth around her belly - now closer to her pubic area, skin grew more sensitive. Even little pieces felt like metal pipes piercing her intestines. “Ow.”</p><p>On the opposite side, Clint had his eyes together, looking at his nose - tongue lolling out like a tired dog, head to the side.</p><p>Ally didn’t bother stopping the chuckle. He had noticed her distress and made her laugh instead of crying. Any man who did that was a great bro in her books, even if the man in question was a dumb bird.</p><hr/><p>They walked into the common room arm in arm - both of them were limping and both of them relied on the other for support. Someone was nice enough to pull out and load the futon with pillows and blankets, Bucky already having made his nest on the far side where he could keep his leg appropriately elevated. Steve hovered close by with a bowl of what smelled like chicken soup, Loki was nowhere to be seen along with Natasha and Thor was neatly stacking various pieces of his teammates equipment in the far corner of the room.</p><p>Ally scanned the room twice, finding Bruce buried under a mountain of blankets, being a minute away from sleep.</p><p>Tony appears from behind Ally, freshly showered and hair damp. Stopping next to her, he gave Clint a peck on the cheek and picked the woman up, making his way to the center of the bed. Steve was next to Bucky on the bed within moments and Loki appeared together with Natasha seemingly out of nowhere, them and Thor quickly finding their own place on the bed.</p><p>Ally physically felt the stares directed at her by the people in the room.</p><p>After a pregnant pause, Tony cleared his throat. “So. We need to talk.”</p><p>Wanda’s sitting next to Bruce, looking smug. Ally noticed it a bit too late; usually <em>that</em> look on Wanda’s face signified an incoming surprise - or “I said so” which happened an unsurprising amount of times, mind reading and all.</p><p>“Uhh, what about?” Suddenly nervous, Ally shrinks into the couch. It’s a subconscious gesture.</p><p>Steve blushed and opened his mouth, but then Tony reached over and firmly planted his palm on the blonde’s mouth, blurting out: “We’d like to date you.”</p><p>Ally isn’t sure if she will ever remember how to breathe. She wasn’t blind and the fact that all of the team were… <em>Lovers</em>, in one way or another, didn’t go over her head. In fact, she found it hard to abstain from fantasizing about Steve and Bucky, or Loki’s magic… Fingers during the loneliest nights, but…</p><p>“Me? Out of all the people, you choose <em>me</em>?” She instead asks, fury and indignation giving her voice a hysterical edge.</p><p>Wanda looks at her, contemplating something for bit and rolling her eyes, finally. “I can’t believe I love you.” The witch shakes her head and crawls over, firmly kissing the flustered woman.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*Loki voice* ta-daa! Cliffhangers are healthy for developing suspense. Or are they..?</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>